Baked sardines in a mediterranean tomato crust

Baked sardines recipe comes from the south of Italy, where sardines are a common fish. I learned this recipe from my father-in-law and he learned it from his mother, so it is a real traditional Italian recipe.

Sardines were considered a poor kind of fish in the past, and are called blue fish in Italy – the Italian pesce azzurro. It is actually a fish full of nutrients, tasty and very healthy. They are a little bit salty so in this recipe we are using many herbs to reduce the strenght of sardines’ flavor but keeping the delicious part.

Put the sardines in a bowl and sprinkle with lemon juice and let them rest while you prepare the dough for the crust

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (350 F)

Put tomatoes, every kind of herb present in the ingredients’ list, 2 peeled cloves of garlic, 1 tablespoon of olive oil and bread crumbs in a food processor. If you use dry bread, break it into small pieces

Blend everything until the mixture is smooth but not too soft (it will takes around 2 minutes)

Put half of the mixture together with the sardines and mix well

Put a piece of parchment paper in a baking pan and anoint the paper well with 2 tablespoons of oil

Arrange the sardines on the bottom in a thick and compact way

Use the remaining half of mixture to cover the sardines and add a little bit of bread crumbs on top

Put in the oven and cook for about 25 minutes. Hint: check every 5 minutes, the dish will be ready when the crust will be golden and slightly crunch!